Idaho Vandals football team matches program record in NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate

Academic problems that left the Idaho football team ineligible for postseason play as recently as 2014 remained in the past as the Vandals tied a program record in the latest Academic Progress Rate released by the NCAA Wednesday.

The report covers the 2016-2017 academic year.

Thirteen of Idaho’s men’s and women’s athletic programs either saw improvement in their APR or remained at last year’s level. No team had its postseason eligibility jeopardized.

Football’s multi-year score jumped from 927 to 958. Teams need at least a 930 average over four years or 940 over two years to be eligible to play in the postseason. A perfect score is 1000. Between 2009-2012, the Vandals football program managed just a 903 average. When the team could not raise that above 940 in the next two years it was barred from bowl eligibility in 2014.

“My commitment to education mirrors my commitment to football. Our players will attend class. They will graduate,” Paul Petrino said at the time. He became Idaho’s coach in 2013.

All of Idaho’s men’s and women’s teams finished in the top half of the Big Sky Conference for multi-year scores. Women’s cross country and women’s golf led the way. The golf and crosscountry teams have recorded four consecutive years with APR perfect scores.

Football, men’s track and field, women’s basketball, women’s cross country and women’s track and field all set program records. Women’s golf’s perfect score tied its previous record.

Men’s basketball posted a 967, a modest drop from the 985 it managed in 2015-2016.

The NCAA adopted the APR in 2003. The measure tracks the progress of student-athletes receiving athletically related financial aid. Each athlete earns a point for staying in school and a point for remaining academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by points possible and multiplied by 1000.